Wireless communications systems typically provide interconnect and/or dispatch voice communication services. Interconnect voice communication services are those typically provided by most wireless carriers as circuit-switched communications. Dispatch communication services provide can provide walkie-talkie type half-duplex communications. Examples of systems for providing walkie-talkie like, dispatch communication services are Sprint Nextel Corporation's service identified by the trade name Direct Connect which provides push-to-talk (PTT) communications supported on the Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN®), and the high performance push-to-talk HPPTT system offered under the trade name QChat.
PTT calls are typically half-duplex communications, and allow communication in one direction at a time. Communications devices for making PTT calls include a press-to-talk button which is pressed to initiate a call to a PTT call recipient. During a PTT call, the push-to-talk button is pressed to request the “floor” of the PTT call and released transmit the communication and to relinquish the floor. While a first caller has the floor, that caller talks, and a call recipient or members of a group of call recipients, cannot talk until the first caller releases the floor. By contrast, interconnect voice calls typically utilize full-duplex communications, and allow parties participating in the call to listen and talk simultaneously. Interconnect calls require setting up a connection between the parties prior to beginning communications, and accordingly do not allow for casual communications to be sent to other parties on the network without first dialing up the parties.
Push-to-talk services such as Direct Connect can support both private PTT communications between a pair of users and PTT communications among a group of users. A PTT device is identifiable in a PTT network by a PTT network address such as a Universal Fleet Member Identifier (UFMI) associated with the Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN®) or the High-Performance Push-to-talk identifier (HPPTT ID) associated with QChat service.